Mango ice pops from China's Guangxi offer refreshing tropical treat

NANNING, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Mango-flavored ice pops keep rolling off a production line in the county of Tiandong, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The tropical sweetness will later embark on a long journey to Russia.

"To meet rising demand, output has skyrocketed from a few hundred tonnes last year to over 3,000 tonnes so far this year. We're on track to hit 5,000 tonnes for the entire year," said Lin De'en, chairman of Tiandong Yisheng Import and Export Trade Co., Ltd.

Nearly 60 percent of the company's mango ice pop exports are bound for Russia, the rest for Kazakhstan, the Republic of Korea and Japan.

Tiandong aims to make itself "China's Mango Capital." With the local mango industry shifting from fresh fruit exports to deep processing, products like mango chips, purée and jam are gradually breaking into emerging overseas markets.

"We also supply mango products as raw materials to bubble tea brands across Anhui, Shandong, Fujian and Guangdong provinces," said Zeng Chengrui, assistant to the company's general manager. "During each mango season, our combined output of pulp and purée tops 6,000 tonnes, yet we still can't keep up with demand."

"Now, our biggest challenge is not sales channels, but production capacity," Lin De'en said.

As one of the country's leading mango hubs, Tiandong is now home to some 22,666 hectares of mango orchards.

It is accelerating the promotion of integrated water and fertilizer irrigation, and eco-friendly pest and disease control, said Liu Dehuan, chief agronomist of the county's agriculture and rural affairs bureau.

"In the past, farmers mainly relied on manual pesticide spraying. Now, drones equipped with high-precision sensors can accurately detect the growth of fruit trees and the distribution of pests and diseases, enabling precise pesticide application and intelligent pest control," he explained.

Liu aims to promote the use of more mechanized and intelligent equipment. This, he said, will save labor while boosting yields and enhancing ecological benefits.